Variants rose and vigilance fell; why Michigan became country's hotspot for COVID-19 By Corey Williams, David Eggert and Lindsey Tanner Published Generic image of a microscopic image of COVID-19 (FOX.) Then he got sick with what he thought was the flu. He thought he would sweat it out and then feel back to normal. Before long, the 63-year-old Detroit-area retiree was in a hospital hooked up to a machine to help him breathe. He had COVID-19. "I was having more trouble breathing and they turned the oxygen up higher -- that's when I got scared and thought I wasn't going to make it," a visibly weary Gala told The Associated Press on Wednesday from his hospital bed at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, north of Detroit. "I had so many people tell me this was a fake disease."